Golf’s Immortals: 5 Career Grand Slam winners and the 12 who are just short

Jordan Spieth will assume a spot among golf’s immortals with a PGA Championship win and the Career Grand Slam.

Spieth, if you were in a coma for the last month, won the 146th British Open, capturing the third leg of the Grand Slam in the process.

Rory McIlroy—you’re forgiven if you’ve forgotten—has had three of the four legs of the grand slam under his Nike Golf belt since 2013. McIlroy needs only his nemesis, the Masters, to complete the Slam.

Spieth and McIlroy are two of the 12 golfers who have won three of the four major championships. Who are the 10 others to make it three-fourths of way to golf’s highest summit?

Let’s flip through the dusty pages of the history of golf to answer that question and gaze upon pro golf’s most elite company: the handful of Career Grand Slam winners.

Tom Watson

Missing major: PGA Championship. While he won five times across the pond at the British Open, often in grueling conditions, Tom Watson was unable to capture the easiest of the four majors. (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Walter Hagen

Missing major: The Masters. The Hag won four Open Championships and five PGA Championships, but he never managed a top-10 finish at the Masters. (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Sam Snead

Missing major: U.S. Open. The Slammer never could win “one of them U.S. Opens.” Famously a runner-up five times, often in heartbreaking fashion. (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Tommy Armour

Missing major: The Masters. The so-called Silver Scot, like Hagen, never cracked the top 10 at Augusta National. (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Phil Mickelson

Missing major: U.S. Open. We all know the answer to this one: Which major hasn’t Mickelson won? Lefty has come agonizingly close to winning the U.S.’s national championship, most notably at Winged Foot in 2008. He has a staggering six runner-up finishes. (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Byron Nelson

Missing major: The British Open. Playing the Open for U.S. golfers used to be a substantially more difficult prospect. Players had to travel overseas (usually by boat) and it coincided with the PGA Championship. Thus, Nelson didn’t exactly have many attempts. (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Jordan Spieth

Missing major: PGA Championship. The newest member of the “three-fourths” club, Jordan Spieth now just needs the PGA Championship to complete the set. He finished second at the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Jim Barnes

Missing major: The Masters. Did you know Jim Barnes had three of the four majors? Have you ever heard of Jim Barnes before? (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Raymond Floyd

Missing major: The British Open. While he did finish runner-up behind Jack Nicklaus at St. Andrews in 1978, Floyd was never able to break through at the British Open, despite more opportunities than many of the golfers on this list. (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Rory McIlroy

Missing major: The Masters. We all remember Rory’s 2011 Masters meltdown: He lead by four to begin the day and ended up shooting 80 thank to a back-9 faceplant. (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Arnold Palmer

Missing major: PGA Championship. The King only won one U.S. Open, and he never won a PGA Championship. Interesting, as he was one of the most beloved figures in American golf history. Guess that’s why he loved the Masters so much!
(Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)

Lee Trevino

Missing major: The Masters. Also interesting: Lee Trevino, always popular at Augusta National, never won there. A power fader of the golf ball, he proved that particular ball flight wasn’t suited for Augusta, as the pundits always suggest. (Photo source: Wikimedia/Public domain)